Police in conjunction with Mexican authorities arrested Ricardo Magana-Lemus, 36, on suspicion of shooting and killing his sister-in-law Isabel Romero during a fight in the 1100 block of West King Street in San Bernardino in 2010. (Submitted Photo)

SAN BERNARDINO -- The man accused of gunning down his sister-in-law over two and a half years ago in San Bernardino was found and arrested in Mexico and is awaiting extradition back to the U.S. to answer to the charges against him.

The details of the arrest were not released by police, but they did say a group of Inland Empire law enforcement officers, known as the Inland Regional Apprehension Team, who are trained to track down dangerous fugitives, worked closely with Mexican Authorities and facilitated his apprehension.

Police discovered Magana-Lemus was an undocumented immigrant after they began their investigation into the fatal 2010 shooting in the 1100 block of West King Street.

Investigators say Magana-Lemus became upset when his card-playing opponent wanted to end the game. Police said he had hoped to win back some of his money.

He grabbed a gun and opened fire, missing his opponent and instead killing the opponent's wife, 29-year-old Isabel Romero.

The killing is not the first time Magana-Lemus has been wanted by law enforcement.

According to court records, Magana-Lemus received a ticket in December 2003 for driving without a license and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest in February 2004 when he didn't appear in court.

He received another ticket for the same violation in September 2006 in San Bernardino and another warrant was issued two months later.

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He was cited in October 2007 for driving without a license and was scheduled to face the ticket in court in January 2008.

Two more arrest warrants were filed in 2008 when he failed to appear in court on two additional tickets, according to court records.

In December 2007, he was pulled over again and cited for driving with a suspended license, court records show. An arrest warrant was issued in March 2008 when he again failed to appear in court.

It's not known whether law enforcement actually checked to see if he had warrants when he was cited in 2007, but officials said there could be several reasons why his warrants did not come to light.

Because of his hyphenated last name, his cases appear in databases under both Magana and Lemus, officials said.

Investigators did a National Crime Information Center search in 2010 and did not find any information indicating Magana-Lemus had ever been deported.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Detective John Munoz at 909-384-5630
or Sergeant Gary Robertson at 909-384-5361.